VoidSpace takes place in The Void, which is an area of space the
player's character has been unwittingly catapulted into via a
network of wormholes that exist in the universe. Characters cannot
escape it and are forced to live among eachother in The Void,
fighting for the few available resources that manage to find their
way into this desolate place through the wormholes.

The Void is also a place where the very physical nature of the
universe is somehow different.

The most obvious difference when you enter The Void is the
drag your ship experiences as it moves about. The drag increases
as you speed up, thus limiting the maximum speed of your ship.
Energy weapons also seem to be impacted by this strange
phenomenon as energy dissipates quickly as it travels through
space.

Not much is known about The Void, and your character will
need to perform research to study it and unlock its secrets. In
doing this, you may uncover properties of The Void that you can
use to your advantage, allowing for inventions that will aid you
in your survival. One day, your character may even discover a way
to leave.

EXPLORE

Upon arrival, you will find that The Void is not as empty as it's
name suggests. The wormholes have filled it with asteroids, gases,
wreckage from civilizations, and even other players. Search The
Void to find the materials you will need for energy and
construction of your own ship equipment, buildings, outposts, and
ammunition.

Find ancient abandoned player-made
civilizations that you can research and study, acquire, or
disassemble and recycle.

There are no NPCs in VoidSpace, instead, every man-made
structure has to be built by a real player. There are
circumstances that could occur to force players to leave an
outpost they had constructed and for it to become abandoned
permanently. This would allow other players to discover the
abandoned facilities and begin to overtake and/or perform
research on the technology the players created.

Certainly, one of the most powerful aspects of the game
will be alliances made with other players. There is power in
numbers. Discover other player outposts and possibly join another
group in order to maintain your own security. Even if you don't
want to join another group, having a safe place to trade goods
can only help.

There are no maps given for the game, instead, players will
be forced to create their own map of the area by exploring. Once
an area has been explored, a player can then sell the map to
another player, or share it freely. Established civilizations may
want to make map sharing as part of their initiation process for
new players.

YOUR
CHARACTER

All players enter The Void through a wormhole and in a ship. The
ship you start with will be random, but even though different ships
have varying capabilities, you will generally start with only the
basics. Your character is actually a man inside the ship. You will
even be able to exit your ship and enter another. Players will be
able to dock with any space stations or outposts, and if the
character has the appropriate permissions, they can take command of
the structures defenses.

Your character can even
learn personal skills that give you an edge in the world.

In addition to being able to research and develop ships,
equipment, base structures, and weapons, your character will be
able to learn personal skills. For example, your character might
learn the ability to hack certain types of equipment or base
structures. This could be used to disable key base structures in
preparation for an attack from the rest of the character's group.

It is for this reason that it is important to keep your
character alive and share your skills with others. Characters
that have been around for a while could focus on research to
boost the character's aptitude for invention. The more a
character knows, the better he will be at creating something new.

Players are able to form groups in order to better manage
their social systems. Groups can be created within groups to
create ranks.

There is no single leveling system in a Universe Project.
Instead, characters become more skilled at certain tasks through
practice, and can train themselves into improving a set of base
stats. The only way to improve a particular skill is by
practicing it, or by practicing something very similar to it.

When creating a new character, you will be able to choose
the basic stats for your character. Depending on what you choose,
you will be better at certain aspects of the game. For example,
you might be better at coming up with ideas for skills or
inventions, you might be better at developing a working prototype
from an idea, or you might be better at manufacturing inventions,
providing better and more consistent attributes.

Players will be given a number of options when spawning a
new character. In general, the options will be as follows:

Spawn close to a small, medium, or large civilization

Spawn far from a small, medium, or large civilization

Spawn near friends, or into a major player faction

There are a couple of other rules regarding spawning as well:

You cannot spawn anywhere near another character you
might have in the world. In order to get 2 of your own
characters to meetup, you would have to travel a great distance.

You cannot spawn "beside friends" immediately after
dying. You will have to wait quite some time (probably hours, if
not days). Keep in mind though that during a battle, there will
be every opportunity for your friends to rescue or save you.

RESEARCH NEW
IDEAS AND INVENTIONS

New ideas come to a character automatically, but they can be
focused and accelerated through the use of a research facility or
lab. Invent weapons, special equipment with special abilities, base
modules, ships, and ammunition. Sell manufactured versions of your
invention, or sell the ability to create them, to other players.

Become a scholar of a category of technology in order to
boost the quality of your inventions within the same category.

The spread of ideas, skill, and knowledge will be a very
valuable concept within the game. It is very likely that players
will create schools to educate and spread knowledge for money.
Well established player groups may even provide education
free-of-charge to new players in order to give their player-base
an advantage in the world.

How it will actually work

As players go about regular activities in the game, their
character will come up with an "idea" for a new skill or
invention. This will happen at random along with a number of
other influential factors such as:

The character's intelligence

A need that the character has been tagged with
internally

The availability of the materials required for the skill
or invention, or the character's knowledge and experience with
these materials

Other skills or inventions that the character has
available to him

However for the most part, the best ideas come from more
focused research which the character can engage in using a lab or
research facility. Generalized experimentation with materials is
the first step, and once the character has a certain level of
understanding of various materials, he will start to get ideas
for actual working inventions that use those materials. Once a
character has an idea, he can use the lab to try to create a
prototype.

The prototype stage is the stage in which the character is
trying to turn an idea into a reproducible invention or skill. It
may take many tries to get something working, and the difficulty
of coming up with a working invention will depend on the
following factors:

the character's intelligence

the knowledge level of the category the invention falls
within

the level of knowledge the character has of the
materials being used

the general complexity of the skill

Once the character has successfully produced a skill or
invention, he will be able to create or perform it at will. For
objects or skills that are executed by the character himself (not
by some completely automated, mechanical process) the result of
the skill or invention will vary somewhat, and the character will
get better at producing better and more consistent results
through practice. For example, if a character is hacking a
certain type of equipment, he will get faster and more accurate,
and have fewer failures as he continues to perform that
particular skill.

The player can then choose to create another prototype in
order to get a better end product, by going through the very same
process and hoping for a better result. For the most part, the
resulting attributes of a skill or invention are random, but they
will also be influenced by the 4 factors listed previously.

Ideas, skills, and inventions can all be shared freely or
sold between characters.

In addition to skills and inventions, characters will be
able to research concepts in order to open up to them more skills
and inventions to be discovered. For example, The Void is a place
where physics are different from the natural universe. Characters
can use a lab in a research facility to concentrate their
research on The Void itself in order to unlock certain concepts
that allow for inventions that make use the discoveries made.

CONSTRUCTION
AND MANUFACTURING

Since there are no NPCs, there is also no supporting infrastructure
in VoidSpace. Players will need to create their own infrastructure
in order to facilitate their own growth and progression in the
game. Players will be able to build and manufacture their own
buildings, outposts, bases, cities, ships, ship upgrades and
equipment, and even ammunition.

Certain large scale
projects will also require multiple characters contributing to it's
construction.

There is no centralized auction house which means the might
a player possesses is really relative to his local area. One area
might be lacking in ammunition production, so a player can take
advantage of that and create the factories required to meet that
local need. The alternative would be to have players trade
ammunition brought in from the nearest manufacturing plant, which
would raise the price of that commodity in the area.

Players will be able to rent out their manufacturing
facilities to other players for profit. Some facilities will be
very generalized, capable of creating a wide variety of objects.
Renting another player's facility doesn't mean you need to give
them the plans for your invention, you'll be able to produce your
invention in their facility while keeping it private.

Players will be able to create protected cargo containers
that are difficult, if not impossible to open without destroying
what is inside. They will be protected by permissions set up by
the creator of the container. This will allow you to transport
valuable commodities while keeping them very safe from pirates,
and allow you to stage a recovery mission if your goods fall into
the wrong hands. Some examples of particularly important cargo
could be:

Plans for a very valuable invention

A particularly difficult to make and/or valuable
invention

A character of some importance

Raw materials that are banned by a particular player
group or government

VoidSpace will have a fairly extensive set of hacking
skills. Every time a new hacking skill is obtained, it will
always be for a specific piece of equipment or ship. For example,
a turret was perhaps invented by xTheManx, and some other
character might get an idea (and develop it into a skill) for
overriding the permissions on that turret. The skill will ONLY
apply to that specific type of turret invented by the player
character "xTheManx".

Now consider that there will be lots of freely available
skills for creating certain inventions simply because people will
release the skill to the general public (out of the goodness of
their hearts, or for other more malicious reasons). This means
that the permission hacking skill for those inventions will very
likely also be very common!

Due to the commonness of hacking skills for inventions that
are essentially public-domain, a very real need for proprietary
inventions that serve the same purpose will be there. In other
words, it will be worthwhile for people to research and
manufacture their own versions of the same equipment, just to
ensure that they remain unique and much more difficult to hack.

TRADE AND
SHIPPING

Parts of the game world will have higher concentrations of certain
raw resources than others. Mine and collect these resources and
travel to distant parts of the game world to sell your goods at a
premium. Furthermore, players can create factories, and even entire
industries, manufacturing ships, equipment, and ammunition. These
goods will also need to be distributed throughout the game world.

It will even be possible to ferry other players from one
place to another.

The game can undergo sweeping changes due to major player
actions. Wars, for example, can change supply and demand of
various goods and raw materials in an area. Traders not involved
in the war could use it to their advantage by shipping goods to
either side.

Long range shipping can be done if a player sets up a
series of waypoints that his ship would navigate to
automatically. Since there is no concept of "logging off", it is
important for a player to prepare for a trip that could
potentially be dangerous with pirates ready to intercept. Keeping
with a caravan of other players, building defensive drones, and
keeping the ships equipment up-to-date with the latest in
offensive and defensive technology will go a long way to keeping
a player safe on a long trip. If the player is offline when his
ship is attacked, the players ship will automatically defend
itself according to the rules the player has defined, or the
default rules of engagement. If the player has VoidSpace as an
app on his phone, he will receive a notification about activity
in-game like attacks and chats.

You can trade more than just raw materials and equipment.
Players will be able to sell the rights to buildings and even
entire outposts, managed completely by the trade window in-game.
Players will also be able to sell ideas, skills, and even maps.

BUSINESSES
AND REAL MONEY

Because there are no NPCs in the game, anything that the player
needs to progress in the game must be provided by another player,
or himself. This paradigm opens the world up to an incredible
number of business types and business models that the players can
create. A business can be created around any player need, and it is
not just limited to the buying and selling of raw materials or
manufactured goods.

The game will allow players to
perform Dogecoin transactions between each other. This will allow
players to have in-game businesses that actually make them real
money.

There are so many businesses that can be created, so here
are some examples to spur your imagination:

Allow players to rent your infrastructure to build their
inventions.

Sell your services as a defence contractor.

Act as a maintenance crew for a base/outpost while
players are away.

Give other players rides from one place to another if
they're without a ship or if you can offer a safer passage.

Ferry smaller ships inside of larger carriers for a fee.

Store offline players, their ships, and/or their
equipment in protected facilities for peace of mind while
they're offline.

Offer your services as a guard or patrol.

Offer your service as an intelligence agent and spy for
weaknesses in other players bases.

Start a package delivery service that delivers sealed
containers with goods.

Start a telecom company that delivers messages over a
network of long distance communication nodes.

Start a bank that secures in-game currencies.

Provide loans and credit with interest.

Offer insurance for aspects within the game.

VoidSpace will allow for all of these types of businesses, and
many many more.

With the exception of real-money transactions, there will
be no currency provided in the game world. Player groups will
have to create their own in-game currencies in the same way they
invent any other object. Just like in the real world, the larger
player organizations with a stable government and a currency with
wide utility and acceptance, will likely also have the strongest
currency.

Players will also be able to optionally perform real-money
transactions between each other in order to purchase goods or
services. This will open up the possibilities for players to earn
money from playing the game.

COMBAT

Combat is done in real-time, similar to that of an arcade game. You
control your ship, choose what weapons to fire, and try to avoid
your opponent's shots. Since the player has to develop his own
weapons, it is up to him to keep up with the latest technology
developed by the players. He can do so by buying upgrades from
players who choose to sell, or by developing technology on his own.

More than one player can man a ship. It will be
possible to have a crew of players, all with different jobs
micromanaging in order to gain an advantage during battle.

It is important to note a general rule of a Universe
Project is that strength comes in numbers. Technology does play a
significant role, but there is no greater power in the universe
than when players unite with a single cause. The same goes for
VoidSpace in every aspect, including combat. Traditional MMOs
tend to have highly exaggerated levels of defense and offense, to
the point where new characters are incapable of even touching
even moderately high level characters.

There are going to be a large number of weapons, defensive
equipment, and even special equipment. Here is a list of some
samples:

Weapons

Lasers

Plasma Bullets

Metallic Bullets

Missiles

Mines

Attack drones

Defences

Shields

Armor plating

Anti-missile laser turrets

Escape pods

Rescue drones

Smoke bombs

EMP bombs

Special equipment

Ship cloaking device

Hyperdrive

Gravity wells/bombs

Anti-gravity wells/bombs

Communication jammer

Tractor beam

Optical displacement device

Large scale battles will be able to be waged with the help
of some in-game mechanics. Groups of players can be given
waypoints by their commanding players. This will allow the
commanding players to play the game like a real-time strategy,
moving groups of units around the battlefield with relative ease.

Being destroyed during combat is not necessarily the end of
the line for you. Players usually will survive the destruction of
their vessel, and continue to survive in their space suit. A
player's space suit can be upgraded, but is generally fairly
helpless beyond some basic slow movement. However, while you are
awaiting rescue, you could potentially hide within the wreckage
of your ship, provided your opponent isn't interested in
collecting a little extra metal. Players in space suits will not
show up on radar, and will generally be difficult to spot, and
hit.

DEVELOPMENT PROGRESS

Phase 1 of development was to get a working, playable prototype.
Because of your faith in us and because of your donations, we have
accomplished that goal. The purpose of the prototype is to lend
credibility to our cause and our own abilities so that we can fund
the rest of the development of the game.

The first
part of phase 2 of development is to get proper funding so we can
actually have a solid group of developers working full time on the
project. Part of that funding will come from a kickstarter campaign
that we plan on launching in the coming months.

Phase 2 development goals

Funding

We are looking at raising the funds we need while we continue working on the project full-time. The funds would be used to allow us to continue working on this project and keep us from having to put the project on the backburner while we work day jobs. We will start with funding through this website, but in a few months we plan on having a full blown Kickstarter where we will be releasing the full version of the intro video you've seen at the top of this page.

Massive Multiplayer Online Game

One of the most important parts of this phase of development will be bringing the game from a multiplayer game, to a massively multiplayer game. The work we did in Phase 1 got us to a point where we're not very far from this goal, and it will likely be one of the first major milestones we hit for this phase. We will start by implementing a more rudimentary version of the "client bubble", which will then allow us to use the same code to create server clusters. Both of these things allow the game to move giant leaps ahead in performance and allows us to support many more players at the same time. Currently, the game can only support a handful of players because each player must simulate the entire world, just like the server does. The client/server bubble will instead allow us to simulate only the part of the world that we are near.

Game Elements Framework

During this phase, we will have a good portion of the game elements framework completed. It is essential to the Universe Project because it allows us to define game content through the database, without the need to code each item. This means that we can have a vast amount of different types of game objects for very little effort on the developer's part. The game objects will instead use common sets of generic code, along with an extensive set of settings, to create unique objects with varying properties and abilities.

Dogecoin Integration

Very early in phase 1, we will also have Dogecoin real-money transactions implemented. The video explains this more in-depth, but I will include that dialog here:

The integration will be done in a number of ways. We will be creating an experimental MMO server that allows you to spawn a new character at the cost of some Dogecoins. The dogecoins you pay in will be randomly distributed throughout the game world as a mineable resource. Which means that you can actually make money by playing the game. Not only will you be able to mine Dogecoins in-game, but you will be able to trade them with other players, or even attack players and loot their coins.

We will also be allowing for custom servers to be created where all players who join the server have to pay a buy-in in Dogecoins, and the player who survives gets to keep the coins at the end of the game. We still plan on allowing players to simply buy in-game items from other players using Dogecoins without the need to mine them first, however the we will be going with the implementations I just mentioned for the immediate future.

Custom Server Instances

Players will be able to create small custom server instances that will allow them to invite other players to play short combat scenarios against, or with them. This work is actually mostly complete! We will be running tests in the coming weeks and add some controls to the webpage to manage these small instances.